


The Third Option

by Inell



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alive Fred Weasley, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, HP: EWE, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 17:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2397245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inell/pseuds/Inell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some days, Hermione wonders if it’s really worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Third Option

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic to answer a challenge prompt left by a reader [here](http://inell.livejournal.com/841645.html)!

Some days, Hermione wonders if it’s really worth it to complete her NEWTs. It’s not like she couldn’t take her tests now and pass them, but the law requires class attendance, so she’s back at Hogwarts going through the motions with a dozen other students in her year just trying to make it through each day without having a breakdown. If anything, it’s selfish of her to be upset when she didn’t even have to endure what some of her classmates had to when Hogwarts was under Voldemort’s control. Poor Hannah had a panic attack the first day they returned, and she ended up leaving because she couldn’t stand being at the castle again so soon after everything happened.

Since she hadn’t endured the terror of the Carrows’ reign, Hermione has had to step up to help a lot of the younger students adjust to dealing with night terrors and anxiety that no one that age should have to experience. It’s fortunate, she supposes, that she’s had years of personal experience dealing with nightmares and constant worry about the future because she can pass on any coping techniques she’s learned during that time. It doesn’t make it any easier when she’s woken in the middle of the night by a second year screaming as if they’re the target of a Cruciatus, a scream she is all too familiar with, and knowing in her heart it’s probably a memory instead of a nightmare.

After she gets Laura settled, she knows it’s pointless to try to sleep yet. It’s half-two in the morning, and she’s too awake to fall asleep. One benefit to returning for the informally referred to eighth year of classes is her recent acceptance of rule breaking helps make nights like this tolerable. Things like points, detentions, and extra essays don’t really matter to her like they once did. Once you’ve gone through war, a detention is a rather pointless threat. Besides that, the professors are being lenient this year, probably relieved that any students returned when Hogwarts is still undergoing repairs from the damage it sustained during the final battle and when many do have negative memories now associated with a place that had once been a home to so many students.

Since Harry and Ron chose not to return to take their NEWTs, seeing no need when they’d been granted full auror status already by Kingsley, Hermione’s been adjusting to being on her own again after nearly a year of constant companionship and six years prior of feeling as if her identity was pretty much wrapped up in being HarryRonHermione. Only Slughorn and the newest professors don’t look past her when she enters a classroom with an unsaid greeting to Harry and Ron on their lips. It’s lucky that a few other people returned that she does consider friends or else she’d be feeling lonelier than she did first year before the troll incident.

Luna and Neville are two of her constant companions now, as well as Seamus, Dean, and Susan. Lavender is at St. Mungos in a coma that the healers think she’ll eventually come out of, and the Patil’s refused to let their girls return for their final year, much to Parvati and Padma’s disgust, according to the occasional letters she receives from them. There are more Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws from her year than any other, members of the DA who survived Carrow as well as others who just avoided being noticed if possible. She’s paired with Zabini in Potions, he and Nott being the only two Slytherins who returned to take their NEWTs, most likely due to the fact they’re the only two who remained neutral and didn’t attend school the previous year. She thinks it must be difficult for them to have such an empty house, as there aren’t even two dozen Slytherins at Hogwarts this term, but both of them are so closed off that it’s impossible to know what they think or feel.

On her way to the kitchen to heat up milk, she alters her course slightly to walk past a particular hallway. She isn’t too surprised to see someone sitting there with a candle floating nearby and a textbook opened on his lap. “You should be in bed,” she scolds, walking over to where Fred is sitting.

“So should you.” He looks up at her. “You’re breaking rules, Miss Granger. What sort of example does that set?”

“I’m tired of being an example,” she admits, putting her back against the wall and sliding down until she’s sitting beside him. “Have I mentioned how macabre it is that you choose this particular area to sneak off to all the time?”

“Fancy word,” Fred says, arching a brow and looking at her. “I think it’s appropriate, actually, seeing as I died over there.” He points towards an area where there the wall is still in need of repair. “Three and a half minutes still counts, regardless of what George says.”

“It counts.” Her voice is low because she doesn’t much like talking about death these days, especially not when there are those who didn’t end up regaining consciousness when carried to the Great Hall. She hadn’t even known Fred had woken up until the war was over, none of them did, and she still remembers the hollow feeling that had hit her heart when she had seen him lying there dead. “That’s why George says it doesn’t. He isn’t likely wanting to think about you dying, prat.”

“Hmph. It’s belittling my heroic tale, it is. How can I be the hero if there’s no death to return from?” Fred shakes his head. “Nothing like Harry’s adventure, of course, but I still had my own journey.”

She looks at him and bites her lip. “What was it like?”

He seems surprised by her question, and she knows it’s because no one wants to accept just how close they came to losing him from their lives. The idea of George going on without Fred just breaks her heart, and she thinks he’s the one that she’d have saved out of everyone they lost during this horrible war if she’d had the power. He ducks his head and shrugs a shoulder. “I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. It wasn’t a bright light or anything. My uncles were there? I can barely remember them, but they were telling me to get my arse back before Mum found out. Otherwise, it was mostly flashes of images, you know? Like my life going so fast with certain things sticking out more than others.”

“Some people say that your life flashes by when you’re about to die, but it’s hard to know what it’s really like.” She reaches over to squeeze his hand where he’s picking at the pocket of his robe. “Is George still upset that you came back here?”

Fred snorts. “Understatement. He’s stroppy as fuck these days, not understanding why I want to take NEWTs after all this time, thinking I’m mental from the near death experience, all that dragonshite. He’ll get over it. Percy’s actually helping at the shop some, so are Ron and Ginny, and this is important to me, so he’s gotta realize that or he can bugger off.”

“Have you talked to him about why it’s important?”

“I tried, but he’s not willing to listen yet. When he gets that way, it’s better to give him space. When he’s ready, we’ll talk.”

“Are your classes going well?”

“As well as can be expected after three years out of school.”

“Why did you want to come back to take your tests?” Hermione has been dying to ask since she first heard Fred had requested permission to be part of the eighth year class, but it’s always seemed to be a touchy subject, especially considering George’s reaction to losing his brother to Hogwarts after nearly losing him to death.

Fred glances at her before looking at the flame of the candle. “It’s not really the tests that I came back for. I mean, sure, it’ll make Mum happy, especially considering Ron and Ginny refused to come back, but I don’t really care much about NEWTs. I’m a successful businessman, after all. We’ve been making good money with the shop, and the war didn’t hurt us that much financially.”

“Then why bother?” It’s confusing, and she doesn’t like puzzles that don’t make sense. Fred is clever enough that he could probably take his NEWTs and pass without attending classes, either, so this must be as frustrating to him as it is for her, especially when he’s older and been out on his own for a few years. Why would he endure the argument with George and all this trouble if he didn’t care about his tests?

“That’s a funny thing, actually.” Fred rubs his thumb over her knuckles, and she realizes that she never let go of his hand. “I hadn’t planned on it at all until I heard you telling those silly boys of yours that you were returning to take your NEWTs. You see, after I came back from dying, there was something I knew I had to do, but I’ve been a bit of a coward about it, and I could see my chance slipping away again, so I decided to come back, too. Give myself more time to get the nerve to do something.”

“What did you have to do that involves coming back to Hogwarts?” she asks, still not quite able to follow his reasoning.

Instead of replying, Fred looks at her a moment then leans over to brush his lips against hers in a chaste kiss. When he pulls back, she can see that his face is flushed and the top of his ears are red. “That.”

“Oh.” She blinks at him in surprise and licks her lips. “You came back to school to kiss me?”

“I’ve wanted to do that since we were dueling during one of the DA meetings,” he admits. “You hexed me and looked so smug and pleased with yourself that all I could think about doing was pressing you to the wall and snogging you rotten.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because you’d have hexed my bollocks off if I’d dared try something like that.”

“Yes, you’re probably right. I’d have assumed you were playing a prank or teasing me.”

“Besides, you were Ronniekins’ girl. We all knew he had a crush, and I wasn’t going to let a woman, even one as bloody brilliant as you, get between me and my brother.”

“I am not someone’s property, Fred. Ron doesn’t own me, and we don’t go make sense that way. I thought we might, but it just didn’t go the way either of us expected. We’re best friends, and we accept that.”

“I know. That’s another reason I decided to come back, so I had a chance before some other sneaky git snuck in there and swept you off your feet.”

“My feet are generally firmly on the ground. Not a lot of sweeping happening around me.”

“That’s because most blokes are intimidated by brains, and others are intimidated by beauty. You’ve got both, so it scares off a lot of men.”

“Not you, though?”

Fred gives her a cocky grin. “Nope. It takes more than that to scare me, love. You and your wand aimed at me, definitely. Just you being beautiful and clever as fuck? More awed than scared.”

“You aren’t nearly as charismatic as you seem to think,” she mutters, feeling warmth in her cheeks as he continues to call her beautiful in a sincere tone. She clears her throat and glances at him. “Well, was it worth it? Waiting so long to do that and all, I expect there were high expectations as to what it would be like.”

“I don’t know if it was worth it or not yet.” Fred stares at her. “I’m still waiting to see if you hex me or let me down easy.”

“Are those the only two options?” She isn’t entirely sure if this is the best thing right now, considering a relationship while dealing with everything at Hogwarts, but there’s always been something between her and Fred, even when she was too young to recognize sparks and know what they meant, and she’s not going to be finding her happily ever after with Ron. Not that she wants a happily ever after because that’s just dull and also too much like a fairy tale, and she’s smart enough to know about the dark side of those fairy tales. She’s more interested in someone who can challenge her, who can keep up mentally, who can make her relax and laugh when she needs to, and happy is nice but not so happy they jinx things and risk karma paying them back tenfold with unhappiness. Bloody hell. Harry’s right. She _does_ think too much sometimes.

“Did you want a third option?” Fred whispers, reaching over to rub his knuckles along the curve of her jaw.

“I think I do,” she admits, meeting his gaze steadily.

“The third option involves a lot more kissing and listening to George make fun of us terribly when he finds out it was you and not NEWTs that brought me back to Hogwarts.” Fred smiles sheepishly.

Hermione considers it, deliberately taking her time until he’s narrowing his eyes, and then she nods once. “I think that’s a fair trade. I choose option three, obviously.”

“Oh, _obviously_ ,” Fred drawls before he leans in to kiss her again. This time, Hermione’s expecting it, so she parts her lips and returns the kiss. As he pulls her closer, she can’t help but think that this is definitely worth coming back to Hogwarts.

End


End file.
